5 New Travel Startups Aim to Improve Travelers’ Local Experiences

We are seeing a shift in emerging travel startups in which companies are answering the demand for more local experience and a mobile-first transaction.

— Samantha Shankman

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Moiree seeks to provide luxury hotel guests with a local fashion experience. The startup, currently only live in Vienna, rents outfits from local high-end designers to visitors.Moiree

Class is a hotel booking app that only lists four-star hotels, or higher, and promises to deliver free Wi-Fi and breakfast as part of the booking transaction.Clas

Hua is an app that lets anyone practice a foreign language by texting with native speakers of 12 different languages for free. The app also lets users translates friends’ messages if they get stuck.Hua

Weeleo is a peer-to-peer platform where users can exchange foreign currencies in person, based on the current rate, for free. In the exchange process, travelers and locals will also meet new people and exchange advice, stories. Weeleo

FaceBooking is a concept in which travelers’ personal information shared on Facebook is used to customize their hotel experience. The goal is to allow users to book a hotel through the Facebook app providing hoteliers automatically with the information that they need to care to a guests.FaceBooking

All of these startups aim to improve, simplify, or enrich a certain part of the travel experience from providing travelers with local fashion to making it more enjoyable to grasp a new language.

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>> Moiree seeks to provide luxury hotel guests with a local fashion experience. The startup, currently only live in Vienna, rents outfits from local high-end designers to visitors. The average cost of a dress

SkiftTake: Moiree is targeting a high-end traveler who appreciates access to local culture more than tourist sites making its launch well-timed in terms of global travel trends.

>> Class is a hotel booking app that only lists four-star hotels, or higher, and promises to deliver free Wi-Fi and breakfast as part of the booking transactions. The mobile-first booking experience also includes one-swipe booking.

SkiftTake: Mobile-first is the only medium that makes sense for a new booking platform today, but Class doesn’t offer enough of a unique product to draw customers from other booking apps.

>> Hua is an app that lets anyone practice a foreign language by texting with native speakers of 12 different languages for free. The app also lets users translates friends’ messages if they get stuck.

SkiftTake: Language learning has accelerated significantly with the rise of mobile and Hua is yet another tool that can help ambitious travelers prepare for their next trip.

>> Weeleo is a peer-to-peer platform where users can exchange foreign currencies in person, based on the current rate, for free. In the exchange process, travelers and locals will also meet new people and exchange advice, stories.

SkiftTake: This P2P platform aims to cut out the middle man that currently takes up to 12 percent in the exchange process; however, exchanging money can come with safety and trust concerns that supersede those related to non-monetary swaps.

>> Facebooking is a concept in which travelers’ personal information shared on Facebook is used to customize their hotel experience. The goal is to allow users to book a hotel through the Facebook app providing hoteliers automatically with the information that they need to care to a guests.

SkiftTake: As customization becomes a more important part of the travel service experience, business owners and guests have to figure out a method to make information-sharing easy without being intrusive.

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